Facebook has acquired Oculus, paying a reported $2 billion for the virtual
reality startup, which
Forbes says is $400 million in cash and 23.1 million shares of Facebook
stock, and the deal includes another potential $300 in incentives. "Mobile is
the platform of today, and now we’re also getting ready for the platforms of
tomorrow," Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. "Oculus has the
chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play
and communicate." There's some immediate fallout from this as
Markus "notch"
Persson tweets (thanks nin via
Joystiq) that this has ended the possibility of an Oculus version of Minecraft:
"We were in talks about maybe bringing a version of Minecraft to Oculus. I just
cancelled that deal. Facebook creeps me out."

Fair points, Scheherazade. I don't really know what he means by peripheral versus dedicated system, I certainly want it to remain open to all but if they decide that integrating sound is better than us using our own headphones, I would expect them to have their reasons and hear them out, no pun intended.

This is looking longer term than I was, which I've stated in the past but should have made clear in the post you quoted. The future of Oculus was always up in the air and I thought this was inevitable at some point - I'm just surprised by who (not a hardware company) and when (no products released).

With that in mind, I've always been looking at the Oculus Rift in the fairly short term (the next 5 years) and what it leads to with VR in general in the longer term. Whether the Rift would have been relevant in 5 or 10 years was never a big concern personally. Their grass roots were all very lovely and I still wish them well but they've sold my goodwill and any bit of brand loyalty I may have had.

This takeover has accelerated my feeling that the Rift will lose relevance (now more like 2 or 3 years). If they close it off, if they include headphones so they can justify charging more rather than for virtual presence reasons, if they make you sign into Facebook, etc, I will replacing my ageing Oculus Rift CV1 with someone else's VR headset. I just want Facebook to not screw this up until they get a consumer version or two released.

I wouldn't expect Sony to be particularly open with their system either but I could see someone like Razer or Logitech jumping in with 2 feet and catering to the enthusiast market.

He makes decent points, though bringing up the Instagram buyout and saying "See? That worked fine! Oculus will work just fine too!" is laughable. Instagram was in many ways a refined version of Facebook. What exactly do Facebook and Oculus have in common?

And Multi-billion users interested in the Oculus? Yes, because the large majority of Facebook's users are the kind of people who are going to be sitting around with a VR helmet on their face.

More amazing was how he managed to stay away from his usual arrogant piece of shit self until the very last paragraph. Yes, cliffyb, I'm sure Notch is EXTREMELY worried about what your irrelevant ass thinks of him. Hypocrit.

I know he's not Mr. Popular but I think he's spot on on pretty much every point.

He sounds like he's stuck in 'walled garden' land.

He says :(A) "IF their system is going to be (hopefully) a dedicated system instead of a (ugh) peripheral they need their version of whatever the app store would be."

(B) "At the end of the day the fact that programming god John Carmack and up and coming tech god Palmer Luckey BOTH think this is a good fit SHOULD TELL YOU SOMETHING."

(C) "While it might have been interesting for a dedicated gaming company to purchase Oculus it might have ultimately limited their potential in regards to the myriad of things that the Rift is capable of. I want games, but I also want virtual tourism. PTSD treatment. End of life quality comfort care improvements. Treatment for a variety of fears. Architectural visualization. Pilot training. Scuba training. The list simply goes on, and on, and on."

...

A)This is the reverse of what is good and bad.A peripheral is generic.OR + <mouse and keyboard>OR + <gamepad>etc.As a peripheral, it's a great visualization element that you can pair with your favorite control scheme.Soon as it becomes a visualization+control bundle, you're narrowing the audience to folks that like that combo, or annoying people that don't want that combo but are forced to play with it just for the OR.

But then again, maybe this guy is the kind of person that looks back fondly on the power glove, then sure, gimmicky stuff like that must sound great.

B)Tells me that $2B can do a lot of convincing. Pretty sure I'd be convinced of a lot of things for $2B.

C)PTSD treatment, scuba training, etc, all these applications are possible with or without Facebook involved.If a scuba training software company wants to use OR, they can. (Even better so as a peripheral, paired with their own tailored control scheme)

There's no benefit [to the rest of us] to Facebook getting an early foot in the door providing a plethora of OR applications (and along the way patenting the crap out of a plethora of things related, doing its best to make sure smaller specialty companies can eat poo and die). Remember, these days you can draw boxes labeled "provide beneficial user stimulus" and that's good enough to patent.

Granted, facebook can provide these applications with or without OR ownership.However, if buying an OR causes money to flow to facebook, then facebook will do its best to make sure it has a maximally exclusive foothold over as many OR/VR domains as possible. Which means crushing competition.

I now see OR going the way of many other niche tech companies. (Like Ultimate Ears).Bought out. For a few years everything looks good.Then a few years later the quality takes a nose dive, the parent company milks it for as much profit as possible, and the carcass is left to rot as a shell of its former self, eventually fading away as people find replacements that aren't yet compromised, offered by other companies that are still waiting for their turn to be picked apart by 'bottom liners'.Management doesn't care about company health down the road. That's after they no longer work there, and is irrelevant.

Fang wrote on Mar 26, 2014, 17:09:Facebook just saved PC VR, and their future. If you are a PC gamer, this is the only solution that I can think of that will see mainstream VR adoption for PCs.

Why are you under the impression that Facebook gives a flying fuck about PCs? More and more of their business is shifting to tablets and mobile because that's where all their users are going/already are. Where does this idea that Facebook is the champion of the PC come from?

So yay, now you'll get a Facebook VR headset for your iphone to play fucking fappy bird on.

Let me clarify then, VR for "Open" platforms such as PC's, Android and iOS systems. All along Carmack has said they do not want to be tied to consoles, but to mobile platforms due to their incredibly high speed improvements compared to consoles. As an indie VR developer, you better believe we are thinking of driving these VR headsets from smartphones. Thats why using Unity has been so great, it shows a ready path to go from PC to mobile when the time comes. Eventually smartphones will be as powerful as today's computers, and we want to be able to create these fully immersible experiences using these small packages. It opens up many more possibilities.

You are right, Facebook doesnt care about hardcore PC gamers, but they do care about open platforms so they can be allowed on to them. Facebook was convinced the VR revolution is coming, and that Sony was in the driver seat to win it and they were going to be left out. Can you run Facebook on the PS4?

Fang wrote on Mar 26, 2014, 17:09:Facebook just saved PC VR, and their future. If you are a PC gamer, this is the only solution that I can think of that will see mainstream VR adoption for PCs.

Why are you under the impression that Facebook gives a flying fuck about PCs? More and more of their business is shifting to tablets and mobile because that's where all their users are going/already are. Where does this idea that Facebook is the champion of the PC come from?

So yay, now you'll get a Facebook VR headset for your iphone to play fucking fappy bird on.

Also the idea, Facebook's dystopian future if you will, is that everybody will be wearing one and what you look like physically is no longer relevant. Three Likes for Emperor Zuckerberg! Like! Like! Like!

I envinsion somnething eerily similar to what you described and it's exactly why I am uncomfortable with the idea! And since my gaming is done in a room in my house where people tend to gather, I will be seen. My wife already views me as an overgrown socially maladjusted child - if she sees me with one of these on my head she might flip out!

It's not just that you'd be seen, it's that you'd be 100% walling yourself off. You'd be cutting every single sense out. Well, I guess not every single one, but the two main ones.

Right now you just focus away from them, but you still hear them, can still easily see them, and still pay some attention to them. You can game and be social at the same time.

Also the idea, Facebook's dystopian future if you will, is that everybody will be wearing one and what you look like physically is no longer relevant. Three Likes for Emperor Zuckerberg! Like! Like! Like!

I envinsion somnething eerily similar to what you described and it's exactly why I am uncomfortable with the idea! And since my gaming is done in a room in my house where people tend to gather, I will be seen. My wife already views me as an overgrown socially maladjusted child - if she sees me with one of these on my head she might flip out!

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” - Mahatma Gandhi

Yosemite Sam wrote on Mar 26, 2014, 19:17:2 billion?! For a company that has almost no assets and has shipped not one single retail product? Then again didn't he just pay 15 billion for a friken messenger app, tech companies are way over valued.

Don't really get the hate on this purchase. If VR is something you want, then having Zuckerbergs money behind it is what's going to take it to the next level. I'm skeptical VR can go mainstream but Zuckerbergs obviously betting on it. Notch is an idiot, WTF does a VR headset have to do with Facebook other then being owned by the same person. He's just jumping on the hate Facebook bandwagon because it's the trendy thing to do these days, eh fellow Bluesers?

2 billion?! For a company that has almost no assets and has shipped not one single retail product? Then again didn't he just pay 15 billion for a friken messenger app, tech companies are way over valued.

Don't really get the hate on this purchase. If VR is something you want, then having Zuckerbergs money behind it is what's going to take it to the next level. I'm skeptical VR can go mainstream but Zuckerbergs obviously betting on it. Notch is an idiot, WTF does a VR headset have to do with Facebook other then being owned by the same person. He's just jumping on the hate Facebook bandwagon because it's the trendy thing to do these days, eh fellow Bluesers?

Quboid wrote on Mar 26, 2014, 18:27:Also the idea, Facebook's dystopian future if you will, is that everybody will be wearing one and what you look like physically is no longer relevant. Three Likes for Emperor Zuckerberg! Like! Like! Like!

Will the pokes be done in real life by our android slaver/master/keepers?

Prez wrote on Mar 26, 2014, 03:46:Two things I don't understand: why everyone is so excited about wearing this goofy bulky thing on their head and looking like a tool and why everyone is so upset that Facebook bought it.

So, basically everything about this story.

Can you see in 3d Prez? (As in do you have depth perception)

In real life? Yep. And I don't have to wear some silly gizmo that makes me look like a Robocop wannabe to do it!

Who cares what you look like?

Aside from having the self confidence to wear this no problem, not many people are going to see you. It's not like Google Glass which is made for wearing out and about; I don't expect to (intentionally) leave my seat.

Also the idea, Facebook's dystopian future if you will, is that everybody will be wearing one and what you look like physically is no longer relevant. Three Likes for Emperor Zuckerberg! Like! Like! Like!